Walk-in Counselling

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SIGN's Walk-In Counselling offers free counselling services to all individuals, couples and families to help address their concerns. 

Clients are seen on a first-come, first-served basis. No referral or scheduled appointment is needed. 

The focus of the session is determined by the client’s needs and utilizes a strengths-based therapeutic approach. The session may be a single session, or can provide an entry point into ongoing fee-for-service counselling for an individual who may benefit from further support. 

Walk-In Counselling can provide a referral to connect individuals to appropriate community services, and can be accessed as needed over time.

It is a free, immediate and accessible form of brief counselling. People can drop in for free services without an appointment, similar to the medical walk-in clinics. The services are provided by qualified counsellors, who also help people to connect to the community and health services they may need. 

SIGN was one of five participants in a two-year pilot project conducted by Family Service Saskatchewan to study walk-in counselling. Evaluation of the project shows that when people have access to immediate services, they can begin to feel better in just one session. 

A majority of people arriving at walk-in counselling were in distress and needed services immediately, and 71 per cent of participants required only one session with a counsellor. Two-thirds of those seeking counselling indicated they had nowhere else to turn.

An increase in provincial government funding for mental health walk-in counselling has allowed SIGN to expand that service to five days a week and add the second location at the Yorkton Public Library.

SIGN had been providing the free counselling service two days per week since February 2018, primarily through its self-generated funding sources. The province announced in its budget in March that it has allocated $1.2 million for 11 agencies to provide walk-in counselling in 18 new communities across the province, and expanded services in the five communities that took part in the pilot project.